Unexpected Beginning
by ElementalKitty
Summary: Pre-Series. How Much might have become Robins manservant.


**Unexpected Beginning**

**A/N: **This is my first Robin Hood fic so I would appreciate reviews and constructive criticism. I've always wondered how Much became Robins manservant; this is one of my ideas of how it could have happened.

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Robin Hood BBC or any recognizable characters, and I make no money from this.

I was sixteen when a relatively elderly man came to the house of my master and bought ownership of my contract for his own master. The man, whose name I learned was Thorton, didn't speak much on the way to his master's estate. He did not even tell me the master's name, and I found myself becoming more apprehensive the further we traveled.

By the time we arrived in the small village Thorton had informed me would be my new home I was nearly shaking with fear at the prospect of meeting my new master. To say I was surprised when I discovered my master was to be a boy even younger than myself would be a grievous understatement. He waited silently until I introduced myself, and then the first words out of his mouth were, "What kind of a name is Much?", and it was said in such a scornful tone that I had to force myself not to respond in kind. The boy glared at me for a couple of seconds longer before angrily storming up the stairs at the side of the room. I decided right then and there that this master was not going to be any more pleasant than the last and was quite relieved when Thorton showed me to my quarters and then promptly left.

The next day I learned from a kitchen girl called Annie that the master's name was Robin and that I was to do absolutely nothing until robin told me to do something. Annie thought I was lucky to have nothing to do; I was very uncomfortable without a purpose or anything of use to do. When after three hours of waiting Master Robin did not appear to give me any orders I decided to go and acquaint myself with the village and returned just in time to receive a hearty supper. It was the best meal I had in as long as I could remember; my last master did not believe that servants deserved to eat the same foods that he did.

Over the next three weeks I learned just how boring life can be when one has absolutely nothing to do, even if he has a warm dry place to sleep and three good meals a day. Master Robin hadn't even acknowledged my presence since the day I arrived and I was getting quite tired of doing nothing, so against my better judgement I decided to seek the master out.

When I finally found him he was not in a place I would have expected to find a young noble such as Master Robin if had not already observed the boys strange behaviours for three weeks. He was lying on the branch of an oak tree that was located at the very top of a small grassy hill, below the branch and in front of the tree was two graves and I had a fairly good idea of who the graves belonged to.

I was so used to Master Robin ignoring me that I nearly jumped out of my skin when a voice said, "Someday I shall be buried here as well." Not sure how to respond, I said nothing. I was rewarded for my silence when Master Robin suddenly landed in front of me.

"My father planted this tree here when he married my mother", Master Robin continued gazing up at the oak, "this was her favourite place, so when she died father had her buried here. Now he is buried here with her and this has become my family's unofficial burial plot."

I just stared at him for a while wondering what I could say to that and also truly looking at my new master for the first time. No one had told me how old Master Robin was but I guessed him to be around twelve or thirteen, definitely younger than me. I realised he was quite small and thin, and that he had a much slighter build than I myself had. I also noted for the first time that his eyes were blue and his hair was a light brown color streaked through with blond. I was fairly certain the boy had the bluest eyes I had ever seen, truthfully he made me slightly nervous staring at me with those eyes.

When I finally found my voice I found myself saying things I never meant to say. I started by saying, "When my mother died my father simply buried her himself in our yard and made a marker with two sticks. A week later he sold me into servitude so he could keep our house and feed my younger brother and sister." When I looked at Master Robin he was staring at me with a look of sadness on his face.

"I didn't mind though, he asked me first and I agreed", I said quickly as Master Robin opened his mouth to speak, "I thought it far better to become a servant and all four of us live than for me to stay and all four of us starve."

After my confession Master robin sat down in front of the oak and wrapped his arms around his knees and then buried his face in his knees. I was horrified to realise that my master was crying, I did the first thing that came to my mind, I sat down beside him and gave him a hug. It always seemed to work with my siblings, Kevin and Mary.

"Sometimes I don't think about Mother or Father at all for days at a time, and other times I can't stop thinking about them and it hurts so much it feels like I can't breathe", Robin said into my shoulder making me startle and turn sharply to look him in the face, "mostly I just feel lonely though."

I was so shocked by what my master had just confided in me and so horrified by my own tears that I nearly missed Robin asking if maybe we could be friends. He was looking so hopeful that I found myself agreeing before really even thinking about it. Then next thing I knew robin was standing over me and informing me that the privy was quite dirty and that I should get to it right away, then he was bounding down the hill towards the village.

As I walked back to the manor to complete the task my master had given me I tried desperately to make sense of how my plan of demanding Robin give me a task had ended up the way it did. Half way to the manor I gave up and decided to just be happy that I finally had a job to do, no matter how unpleasant, and that my new master was no longer ignoring me and wanted to be friends. I decided that day that Robin was most definitely going to be a much better master than my last.

**The End**


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